Below are pre-set Italian characters for the game. Feel free
to modify them as you see fit. Due to the scarcity of information about the
conflict, particularly the lower level officers, the below biographies have
been influenced by fiction as well as fact. If and when characters meet their
untimely end, feel free to introduce your own characters.
Due to the narrative of the Campaign I have also taken liberty
of the ranks of the officers.
Commanding Officer
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Name: Antonio Gandin (factual)
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Rank: General
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Age: 52
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Appearance: see picture
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From: Avezzano, Abruzzo, Italy
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Starting CO
Rating: +1
(no effect)
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Background:
Antonio Gandin, born in on 13 September
1891 in Avezzano (Abruzzo, Italy) was destine for a career in the Military.
Graduating from secondary school with a
diploma in literature, Gandin attended the Royal Military Academy of Modena,
graduating in 1910 with the rank of lieutenant.
Gandin was involved in the Italo-Turkish
War of 1911-1912, being deployed on the Libyan Front.
During the Great War Gandin served as an
officer in the 136th Infantry Regiment seeing action against the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the conflict Gandin earned himself a Silver
Medal, a Bronze Medal and two War Crosses for military valour.
Between the World Wars, Gandin remained in
the army serving with the Ministry of War and teaching at the School of War
in Rome. In 1935, Gandin was promoted to Colonel and assumed command of the
40th Infantry Regiment. In 1937 he was admitted to the General
Staff of the Royal Italian Army.
Promoted to Brigadier-General in 1940,
Gandin served with Italian Supreme Command until 1942 when he was promoted to
General. Gandin also received a Knights Cross of the Iron Cross from German
during his time with the CSIR (the Italian Army in Russia).
From 16 June 1943, Gandin assumed command
of the 33rd Infantry Division Acqui, based on the Greek island of
Cephalonia. Gandin instantly struck up a friendship with the local German
commander, Lt Colonel Johannes Barge, who both shared an interest in the
works of Goethe. Although a good, caring and competent commander, his
upbringing and pro-German stance sometimes put him at odds with his men.
An unfortunate series of events led him and
the Acqui Division into open conflict with the Germans in September 1943.
On 24 September 1943, Antonio
Gandin, after surrendering to German forces on Cephalonia was executed as a
traitor to the German Empire along with approximately 100 of his senior
officers.
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Senior Officer
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Name: Amos Pampaloni (Antonio Corelli(?))
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Rank: Captain
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Age: 32
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Appearance: see picture
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From: Florence, Tuscany, Italy
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Starting Men Rating: +1 (no effect)
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Starting Outlook: concerned (-1 Force
Morale)
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Background:
Amos
Pampaloni was born in Florence, the only child of Angelo and Ida (nee Fuochi),
on 14 November 1910.
Not much is
known about his life before the war, but it is believed that he came from a
richer, middle-upper class background.
In 1939,
Pampaloni was conscripted into the Italian Army. After being selected for
officer school (supposedly from his background and education), he graduated
as a lieutenant.
In 1940,
Pampaloni joined the Acqui division as they were being redploeyed to Albania
in preparation for the Greco-Italian War. Pampaloni, took part in the
fighting in Albania and Epirus. After armed conflict with the Greeks had
ended, he and the division took up occupation duties on Corfu and settled in
Cephalonia in late 1942. Around this time, Pampaloni was promoted to Captain
of the 33rd Artillery Regiment (Acqui Division), commanding a
battery located on a strategic hill overlooking Argostoli Harbour.
Pampaloni
was ordered by his commanding officer, General Gandin, to abandon their
position before the outbreak of hostilities as a token of goodwill to the
Germans.
Pampaloni
played a key role in events leading up to and during the struggle between
Italian and German forces on the Island. Pampaloni is credited with the first
armed action against German forces when on September 13, having sighted two
German armed motorcycles, which was in violation of the truce, and disarmed
them. Choosing to reoccupy some of their old positions on the high ground
above Argostoli Harbour in preparation of a German attack, Pampaloni,
supported by other artillery commanders in the area, opened fire and sinking
two German landing craft which were bringing in reinforcements from the Greek
mainland. Ultimately his battery was captured by German Forces with Pampaloni
being the lone survivor with a gunshot wound to the neck. Able to survive
with the help and aid of the Greek Partisans, Pampaloni joined toe Greeks in
their struggle against the Germans.
For the
remainder of the war, Pampaloni fought with the 39th Regiment as
an officer of the Greeks People’s Liberation Army, all over Greece.
Returning to
Italy after the war, be gave a testimony to the massacre of the Acqui on
Cephalonia to the Military Information Service. In 1946, Pampaloni was honourably
discharged from the Army at the rank of Colonel.
After the
war Pampaloni was director of the Automobile Club of Florence and heavily
involved in setting up automobile racing in the area. In 1964, Pampaloni and
his friend Pasquale Borracci, was involved in the reopening of the Mugello
Road Circuit.
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Superior Junior Leader –
Section 1
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Name: Carlo Guercio (fictional – book/movie)
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Rank: Sergeant
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Age: 24
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Appearance: Picture
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From: Udine, Venezia, Italy
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Background:
Carlo
Guercio was born to a middle class family in Udine in 1919.
In 1937
Guercio volunteered for the 3rd Alpini Division Julia, an elite mountain
division of the Italian army formed in 1935. After undergoing basic training
Guercio’s was promoted to Corporal and his division was transferred to
Albania for the coming Greco-Italian War.
Fighting
against the Greeks, Guercio took part in the Battle of Pindus from 28 October
– to 13 November 1940. Conditions on the front line were atrocious with
weather and disease ravaging both sides.
Outnumber by
the Greeks by this stage of the battle, on 3 November 1940 the Italians
decided to attack to try and change the momentum of the battle. This resulted
in the Italian spearhead being attacked on all sides by the Greeks and part
of the Julia Division being cut off and surrounded.
Guercio and part
of his division were now fighting on in freezing conditions, outnumbers and low
on supplies and ammunition.
The Julia
pocket managed to hold out for 2 days until it was completely overrun by
Greek forces which resulted in the part of the division being destroyed with
5000 casualties (97%).
On November
5, while the final actions in the pocket were taking place and the command
post overrun, Guercio while wounded himself, carried and dragged three fellow
wounded soldiers one at a time to safety over the Pindus Mountains to the
Italian lines in Albania some 40 kilometres away. When returning to Italian
lines he was awarded the Silver Medal of the Medal of Military Valour and was
promoted to Sergeant.
After his
recovery in 1942, the Julia division’s personnel had been reassigned to other
divisions as replacements. Guercio was assigned to the Acqui Division (33rd
Artillery Regiment) serving under Capitan Amos Pampaloni on the Greek island
of Cephalonia.
A man of
great personal conflict, Carlo is quiet and keeps to himself. When needed
though, Guercio shows himself as a fine NCO willing to do whatever it takes
for the men under his command and for Pampaloni.
The source
material tell us that Guercio does not survive the battles with the Germans.
After the first days of the conflict, he is captured by the Germans and
executed at Argostoli Harbour with the remnants of his command.
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Junior Leader – Section 1
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Name: Luciano Veccoli (fictional – generated)
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Rank: Corporal
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Age: 30
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From: Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy
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Background:
N/A
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Superior Junior Leader –
Section 2
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Name: Salvatore Esposito (fictional – generated)
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Rank: Sergeant
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Age: 22
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From: Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
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Background:
N/A
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Junior Leader – Section 2
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Name: Carmine Altera (fictional – generated)
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Rank: Corporal
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Age: 37
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From: Domodossola, Piedmont, Italy
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Background:
N/A
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